What is Copyright?

The following is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. If you need legal
advice, contact a lawyer.

Copyright law protects original creative works, such as software, video games, books, music, images, and videos. Copyright
law varies by country. Copyright owners generally have the right to control certain unauthorized uses of their work (including
the right to sue people who use their copyrighted work without permission). As a result, certain images and other copyrighted
content may require permissions or licenses, especially if you use the work in a commercial setting. For example, even if
you have permission to use an image, you may need additional permission to use what is in the image (e.g., a photo of a sculpture,
a person, or a logo) because someone else's copyright, trademark, or publicity rights might also be involved. You are responsible
for obtaining all of the permissions and licenses necessary to use the content in your specific context.

However, even copyright-protected works can be lawfully used without permission from the copyright holder in certain circumstances.
The Wikipedia entry on copyright law contains a useful overview of copyright law, including fair use and other exceptions to copyright law.

No. Not all creative works are protected by copyright. There are many exceptions to and limits on copyright protection.
For example, copyright only protects creative works for limited periods of time. After the period of protection expires,
the copyrighted work enters the public domain. If a work is in the public domain, the work may be freely used without permission
from the creator of the work. However, just because a work is available online does not mean it's in the public domain or
free to use. You can read more about the public domain on
Wikipedia.

The copyright laws of many countries have specific exceptions and limitations to copyright protection. For example, in the
United States, "fair use" allows you to use a copyrighted work without permission in certain circumstances (e.g., a book
review that includes some of the book being reviewed).
Wikipedia and the
Electronic Frontier Foundation have useful descriptions of fair use.

It depends; sometimes it is fine to upload copyrighted materials to Microsoft's websites without seeking permission from
the copyright owner (e.g., backing up your personal files, such as your family photos, on OneDrive). However, we are generally
required by law to disable access to copyrighted content (including videos, music, photographs, or other content you upload
onto a Microsoft website) if the copyright holder claims that the use of the copyrighted work is infringing. You can let
us know if you believe that a copyright holder wrongly requested that we disable access to content you uploaded (e.g., you
believe you have the rights to use that content or because your use is a fair use). Note that if you repeatedly use your
Microsoft account to infringe, we may terminate your account. So please, respect other people's copyrights.

Some content available online, such as public domain content, is free to use because it is not subject to copyright protection.
Other content might be subject to copyright but the copyright holder licenses content with certain restrictions, such as
under the
Creative Commons license. Bing's image search lets you limit results only to Creative Commons-licensed images (after running an image
search, click "license"). Other copyrighted content may be used without permission because a limitation or exception to copyright
applies (see above discussion of fair use).

Of course, some online content is not free to use, is not licensed by the
copyright holder, and your use will not qualify as fair use. Unfortunately, we can't provide specific guidance regarding
the use of particular content, so be careful to select the works you use carefully.

It depends, but it is generally a good practice to credit the original creator of the content. Some content creators require
that you give them credit when you use their work as a condition of use. You should carefully review any license requirements
for any content you plan to use prior to using any content.